Livin' It Up With Lainey Bancroft!!!

Wah-Hoo! It's that time again!!

If you're eager to get the good times rolling, then you've come to the "write" place!

Lainey Bancroft is here to banish your end-of-week blues! Not only is she an amazing author, but she's got one heck of a sense of humor. She's joining us today to offer up some kickin' advice on the wonderful world of writing!

So, rip open that bag of Easter candy you've got hidden in your desk and give your cup a refill because we're going all in here at TLN today!


1) If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

By day, Lainey Bancroft is a manager for the HVAC business she owns with her husband. Spending the vast majority of her time with men, whatever remnants of girly-girl she possessed have long since abandoned her. She can slug beer and lug air conditioners and furnaces with the best of ‘em, and is known to have “quite a mouth on her” by times.

But when the hassles of dealing with teenagers, pets, construction workers and household messes have been dealt with, Lainey sneaks away to indulge her hidden romantic side. Living vicariously through fictional characters, she can say or do things she’d never imagine trying to pull off in real life. Her stories run the gamut on the sensuality scale, leaving her to wonder if she is sinfully sweet, or sweetly sinful.

Lainey’s secret goal is to steal more time to devote to writing. To write bigger. Write better. Will she someday be able to trade in the steel-toed boots for sandals and treat herself to a massage and a manicure? Stay tuned!

2) Using three words, describe your voice.

Humorous. Heartwarming. Hot.

3) What has been the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome with your writing?

Verbosity. There. If I leave it at that, you’ll see that I actually have overcome this obstacle.

4) How do you craft your characters? What do you feel makes your characters stand out?

My characters tend to arrive complete with attitudes all their own. When crafting them into the story, I find ways to insert tidbits of backstory that support and explain the particular beliefs and outlooks the characters have so their quirks are organic parts of the whole. I think this lends to very real, memorable characters a reader can relate to.

5) Any advice on how to write a query letter? What has worked for you?

The query letters that have garnered the most positive response for me are usually short and sweet. Trimming down the essence of a romance to the BIGGEST thing the heroine and hero want and what stands in their way and/or keeps them apart to one or two brief paragraphs—written with character voice and attitude—seems to be a winning combination. Oftentimes secondary characters and subplots feel like a mandatory part of the story, but in the query I find they dilute the heart of the story and can make a query convoluted.

6) What is your favorite aspect of writing?

Characters. Hands down, characters. I love the process of figuring out what motivates them. What they fear. What excites them. I especially enjoy when they become developed enough that they automatically generate dialogue in clear, individual voices. Makes my job so much easier. Lol

7) What's in your writer's arsenal that helps you through the writing process?

Stephen King’s On Writing helped me past that verbosity hump. When I first read that Mr. King expects to cut an ms by 10% while revising, I thought no way! Having practiced it, I can now see how trimming the fat leads to a leaner, better tale. The other resource I tend to return to again and again is Margie Lawson’s {http://www.margielawson.com/ } Empowering Character’s Emotions. Margie’s EDITS system is invaluable in helping tweak a manuscript when you know the pacing is off but aren’t quite sure where.

8) What's going on in 2010 for Lainey Bancroft?

Right now I’m shopping a women’s fiction manuscript I have high hopes for. I also just sold my ninth book to The Wild Rose Press. Sunni Side Up will be part of a Last Rose of Summer anthology with fabulous authors Dara Edmondson and Kat Henry Doran. The anthology is titled Out of the Dark and will release September 2010.

Here’s a sneak peek at the mini-blurb:
Funny how a little time behind bars changes a woman's outlook on life.

Reese: working in a remote part of Africa, she never received contempt of court warnings.

Mallory: the cops didn't want to hear she was only doing her job.

Sunni: in hiding for twenty years—until a protest turned riot forces her out of the dark.

And finally, I closed ’09 with the digital and paperback release of The Trouble With Tessa, first place winner in the SARA Merritt “Magic Moment” Contest, and started ‘10 by celebrating a recent TWRP release that has received some awesome reviews!

Bridesmaid Blues is a Sweetheart Rose novella. It’s a fun little story that is part of TWRP Flower Basket Series.

Blurb:
Trisha Ellison hopes a trip to the San Jose flower market will help her find a bloom exotic enough to suit her picky sister. When events unfold that send Trisha to the market with The Flower Basket’s hunky new driver, Rico Martinez, Trisha wonders if she’s also found a solution to avoid attending her sister’s wedding solo.

Raised by a grandmother soured by servitude to affluent white Californians, Rico Martinez steers clear of fair-haired, filthy rich young ladies. When perky wedding planner Trisha requires more than just his floral expertise to make the wedding she's planning a success, what's a sympathetic gentleman to do? Especially since he's falling for her--big time. Until he discovers she isn't just a simple, dog-rescuing wedding planner, but the sister of the bride…and daughter of Almendra's most affluent man!

Buy link for book: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/lainey-bancroft-m-164.html

My Website: http://www.elaineforlife.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lainey.bancroft?ref=profile

You always have such fun interview questions, thanks, Sarah. It has been a pleasure visiting you!

Aw, thanks, Lainey!! I appreciate you letting me grill ya! Your humor is beyond compare! :) Best wishes on all your projects!!

Thank you, TLN'ers! Let's get the weekend welcomed in with a bouncy little ditty guaranteed to get ya singing! Here's Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers belting out ISLANDS IN THE STREAM!! Take care and we'll catch you back on Monday for another NOVICE TO WATCH!!